After high school, my first professional playing gig was with the drummer's brother-in-law, (Wayne Reed). Wayne was one of those "Big Fish in a Little Pond" types, like Ross Broadway, Atwood Allen or Sonny Ozuna (Sonny and the Sunglows had a national hit record in 1962 with a song called "Talk to Me"). These local guys skirted all around international fame and fortune, but never seemed to quite get there. They had enough talent to be rich and famous, they just were not.

I played 5 hours at a V.F.W. hall in Marion, Texas and got paid $5.00. I had been allowed to play guitar and sing all night (harmony of course) for an audience, and on top of that, I was paid enough money to buy my gasoline to get there.  Of course, gasoline at that time was about 19 cents a gallon on a regular day and about 09 cents a gallon during the frequent gas wars. I was hooked on show business from then on. Doing something you love and being paid to do it was definitely the way to go.

PREVIOUS STORY     NEXT STORY     STORIES INDEX